We had our first experience of using Oyster Pay-As-You-Go at Brockley Station today (or rather, our companion did, as you can't buy Oyster cards at Brockley Station, only top up at the machines). We felt pathetically grateful, like we had been accepted in to the greater London family, at long last.

Cllr Sue Luxton tweeted to say she'd successfully used it at Ladywell Station today too. Have you tried Oyster locally? Did it give you a warm sense of belonging? More importantly, did it work?

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They were aware of its existence, yes. Having bought a card at Charing X today, I don't understand why they couldn't be selling them here too - doesn't appear to be anything more complex than selling a normal ticket.

I used it first thing this morning to get to Waddon. Checked with the staff and was initially told it wasn't working but I think he'd misunderstood me and thought I was asking whether I could buy an Oyster card. Another staff member immediately corrected him.

Don't bother with Oyster Extension Permits. Plead ignorance if caught. The train companies won't be able to keep up this final act of resistance for long. I suspect, deep down, even they know it's a dumb idea.

I have just been on the tfl.gov website and it says the single fare from Brockley to Charing Cross is £3.20 peak and £2.80 off peak using oyster! I assume this is incorrect as someone here said the single off peak fare was £1.70. Please can anyone tell me the peak cost using oyster?

On Oyster PAYG I got charged £1.70 off peak to London Bridge and £2.80 returning from Charing Cross (involving a wonderful 30 minutes wait at Lon Bridge at 7.30 Saturday night, stuck platform side as well). So overall costing £4.50!!

If you can manage to find the return ticket price on the machine, as it's been moved from the 1st screen, its £4.30 (I think) return. So ticket prices have indeed gone up by 80p/90p return. Or by £1 if using the wonderful Oyster!?

Machines at Crofton Park all uncovered yesterday and, apart from one at the eastern end of the Sevenoaks platform, all seemed to be working. Didn't use them as I have an annual travelcard.

Will make it easier to nip down to Bromley for some shopping on a Sunday, as previously you always had to fight with surly staff at Bromley South who couldn't understand that you hadn't bought a ticket at Crofton Park because (a) it was unstaffed and (b) the machines didn't sell extension tickets.

Excited at being able to visit The Glades with greater ease? Yes, I am middle-aged.

What you have to realise is that the Oyster pay as you go fare for a journey from Zone 2 into Zone 1 - the most common commute I suspect in our area - is different if it involves two networks rather than just one.

If you use rail only it is £2.40(ish) whilst if you use rail and tube (as I do) it rises to £3.20.

It is therfore cheaper for me to continue to buy a weekly ticket than use pay as you go.

@give me soma - And (at the risk of being boring - sign-the-petition) a month ago you could have had a through train from Charing Cross. My husband's normal commute cost has shot up in price and complexity as well. They just don't like people being flexible and innovative in using what transport options remain on offer.

I just wish I'd seen this thread before I bought my zones 1-3 weekly travelcard today - it seems it would've been cheaper to use Oyster PAYG. Better take some unnecessary trips to get my moneys worth... I know now though - thank you Brockley Central!

no off-peak return --- that is sneaky. Re T. Michael and buying a weekly travel card vs PAYG: I sympathise and, I firmly believe that the Oyster card readers should be programmed to revert you to the lowest possible fare tier after the fact. They already revert to a 1-Day Travel Card if your PAYG activity over the course of a day is over the cost of the day travelcard. So yes, machines are stupid, but TFL is just mean, and that is the problem. If this were truly a public service, it would be a no-brainer to have the machine calculate the lowest fare-basis for a travel over time. I mean if they are going to collect all this data about our movements through london, we may as well profit from it too.

To be honest Hugh's contemptuous comment for people who used public transport and then complain on forums , like these is apt.

We kinda deserve it, because we don't do anything to change things.

Yesterday seeing people arguing with each other,about moving down into the carriage, when there was barely any space in the centre of the carriage and I suspect the reason why the people there didn't move was because there was nothing to hang onto.

Not once in the arguements did anyone take the wider view.They took the easy option and blamed fellow passengers rather than looking at the situation as a whole. And in so doing the rail company's part, the governments part in all this is ignored.

I think we are too polite about unacceptable service. I mean what the hell is Southern doing sending a four carriage train LATE, in the middle of rush hour in the middle of winter when an 8 carriage train is normally filled to the brim.

And the only thing we receive in response is a half-arsed apology from some bewildered sounding driver.

We do do something about it. Matters are publicised on blogs like these, leaflets handed out and about 4000 so far have signed a petition for cuts made to be restored and the planned cuts for the summer to be re-thought.And at the talk to the manager event last autumn the poor guy was over-whelmed.Hopefully the occasion of handing over the petition will also be well attended.The problem is that there is so much flannel when you try to complain that those with livings to earn simply cannot spare the hours. Campaigning is a full-time occupation.

I stopped taking the train last March and bought a bike and have not commuted by train since. The media headlines of cyclists getting knocked over did worry me at first but after my first week I felt liberated. I get to work in 20 minutes, a journey which would be 45 mins to an hour by train and half an hour at best by bus. You also save a lot of money and the health benefits are obvious.

Staying alert, obeying traffic regulations and applying common sense will keep you out of harms way. Besides, most of the cars are going slower than you anyway.

And the issues of where to put the bike when you arrive (my daughter left hers chained up and secure but it was still stolen - to her abiding grief) and of arriving in a sweaty heap if there are no workplace showers. A colleague where I used to work in Bromley cycled to work and it was sometimes downright unsavory being in a meeting with him.

Fair enough. It's true that too few employers make cycling easy. That said, I read somewhere that 25% of the workforce of PwC (or Deloitte - one of them) in London bike in. That is a lot of bean counters. So it can be done.

Hugh. As long as there are no dedicated cycle lanes in London, and I mean proper ones, which are not just a line painted in the road, I will not cycle to work. Please don't call me lazy because I value my personal safety.

Tim, not sure what you mean by proper. Is the bus lane a proper bus lane? It looks pretty much like a cycle lane only larger and a different colour.

Cyclists also value their safety, hence all the yellow crap we wear. You may not be lazy but I find it hard to believe that most people who could get to work by other means take the train out of safety concerns.

After the 7/7 bombings all these people at work started cycling because the tube terrified them. 'I didn't realise it was so easy!' they said. After two months they were all back on the tube.

In the Netherlands, cycle lanes are completely separate to the road, there is kerbing in between. Hence, there is much less chance of being run down by a vehicle whose driver has lost concentration for a second. I will never cycle to work while there is a chance I could be injured or worse, through no fault of my own. The chance of being injured on a train is negligible. I resent being called lazy because of that fact. I also resent the implication that I am not green because I choose not to cycle.

Don't jest about bamboo bikes - they exist! And my daughter is desperately keen to make one. Currently a guy in New York runs two day courses to do just this - kit and help provided. There is also a small factory in Zambia that he started that churns out frames.

I biked in this morning. Roads are well salted (which of course corrodes the bike and components, but watcha gonna do) so completely clear. I just couldn't face the push and shove to get on a sweaty, busy train or bus which would probably be late or cancelled, after standing freezing in the snow for half an hour. Jumped on the bike and was in work in 20 mins. Stuff the train and bus...

A bit of hand-holding required here. I have to get up to Elstree & Borehamwood tomorrow (zone 6 return off peak) leaving from Crofton Park. I've had a look at TfL's fares page and it indicates that travel within zone 6 is capped at £7.50 off-peak on this new-fangled Oyster system. Is this correct?It's only a quid or so more than I'd spend on motorbike juice, and as it's more or less a direct service, it would seem a shame not to make use of it. (The only worry being that it's operated by First Capital Connect)

I'm a bit behind in adopting this Oyster card thingie. Can I just check that Oyster pay-as-you-go is the most sensible option for someone like me who only makes occasional use of the public transport system (one or two journeys into central London a week at most, sometimes at peak times, plus the odd tube and bus journey).